It was a wonderful weekend to kick off the arrival of warmer weather! Saturday Adam and I drove out to Montauk for some beach walking and lobster rolls. And Sunday we checked out Untermeyer Park and Gardens up in Yonkers.
Weekend highlights include…
A sparkling citrus matcha.
A boozy, frozen, coke coffee (coke ice cubes, amaretto, and espresso).
Espresso (plus chocolate milk) from King’s Coast. <– roasty, delicious, and easily the best coffee we’ve had all year
I worked five days through the last weekend, which is just a normal workweek, but something about the Thursday-Monday schedule is exhausting! Hence the late post. Also all the take-out this week in lieu of cooking!
Adam and I both had the weekend nights off and we went on some great dinner dates! And did some wonderful exploring around Bushwick, aka the best street art neighborhood in New York.
Other highlights from the week included…
Wycoff Star quad iced latte, best coffee of the month.
About Time Coffee‘s Summer Breeze – cold brew with tangerine and cola.
Still very into these Barebell protein bars, the vegan ones in particular are delicious and filling.
New favorite, old favorite – Pazzaz apples are crunchy and juicy / the potato chip peanut butter cups are the best candy of all time and I eat at least one a week.
These new cola Sour Patch Kids are delicious too.
A Spring moment – lavender vodka in homemade rose lemonade.
Caffe Panna affogato special – Candy Chaos; candy-studded ice cream, chocolate ice cream, graham crunch, mini Reese’s cups, Rolos, panna, caramel, and espresso.
Dinner at Faro. I had vodka in a great housemade citrus soda with lime, lemon, and orgeat.
Roasted beets with almonds, ricotta, strawberry and vinaigrette / sourdough sesame focaccia.
Adam had pasta with rabbit (yuck) and we shared bucatini with confit chicken, basil, pecorino, and chili flakes and mafalde with braised short rib and chili pangrattato.
We had the “chocolate” for dessert – hazelnuts, chocolate cremeux, olive oil cake, dulce de leche, and cocoa crumble.
We had a wonderful dinner at Piggyback but it was too dark for photographs. The hands-down best dish was the deconstructed pho – fried rolled noodles, choy sum, soy marinated beef, and a concentrated pho broth sauce. We also had this tuna tartare with yuzu soy vinaigrette, Asian pear, and shisho.
A homemade meal! Hedgehog baked tofu with sauce and sautéed bok choy and celery.
This seed and oat bar was great; it reminded me of one of those old-fashioned sesame bar candies.
Yogurt bowl – plain yogurt with golden nugget mandarin, red plum, honey, Heritage Flakes, and chia seeds.
A taro and salted egg yolk cake from 99 Ranch Market; overall we weren’t impressed with their prepared foods selection but this was fantastic.
Chewy, fruity Japanese candies. The grape ones were the best.
Leftovers of our duck two ways from Glasserie – honey and spice crusted duck breast and braised duck thigh with nuts and raisins in phyllo dough. Plus veggies from home – roasted cauliflower and gojuchang cabbage.
Chicken salad loosely inspired by Waldorf Salad. Shredded chicken with dressing (plain yogurt, mayo, salt, lemon, honey, and horseradish), apple, green onion, celery, toasted cashews, and dried cherries.
Spring is officially in NYC and the flowers could not be more gorgeous. Adam and I spent as much time as possible outside this weekend with a long walk through Greenpoint/Williamsburg on Saturday and a long walk across the Queensborough Bridge and around Midtown/Central Park on Sunday.
Some highlights from a beautiful, amazing, delicious weekend…
Drinks at Roberta’s. It was so lovely to sit at their bar and we want to go back immediately. I had a fantastic Dead Head — Miele amaretto with house grapefruit cordial, bitters, and egg white. Plus a Guava Jam to go! – house coconut rum, Giffard’s banana, guava, and bitters.
Dinner at Glasserie was the best meal of the weekend. Carrots cooked and shaved raw // three types of mushrooms (each marinated differently) in broth.
Lamb with mustard and grilled eggplant. After this we had duck prepared two ways that was so stunning and scrumptious I completely forgot to take photos. <– we have leftover coming for dinner this week and I could not be more excited
Trader Joe’s turkey corndogs and veggie and sunflower seed bites plus roasted orange cauliflower, broccoli, and romanesco (plus leftover fry sauce – which I order every time I get Roast, regardless of if I get fries).
I took a naked food of the Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes so I could show you guys what they look like. Then I dressed them up with Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.
Best meal of the week – hashbrown, roasted brussel sprouts, soft-scrambled eggs. Topped with a mix of fry sauce, chili crisp, and rice vinegar.
Chew frozen things. Black sugar boba popsicle and a passionfruit ice cream mochi.
Chewy vegan candies. I loved the tropical ones (grapefruit slices!) and liked the hearts and stars.
Grapefruit beverages. Hard seltzer and kombucha.
Takeout dinner from Roast. A roast beef melt and an on-special salad with arugula, asparagus, cauliflower, parmesan, crispy breadcrumbs, chicken, and pesto vinaigrette.
Easy rice bowls. Brown rice / Trader Joe’s green vegetable foursome frozen veggies / tuna salad with mayo, soy sauce, rice vinegar, furikake, and Korean chili flake / kimchi / chili crisp.
Homemade cashew chicken. With red bell pepper, green onion, and extra cashews. Served on roasted broccoli slaw.
This is an early post because it’s a short week – I am heading to Ohio today to visit my grandma! And my mom will be there too!
Pre-vacation highlights included…
This week’s coffee combo.
We brought home brigadero balls from Cafe Patoro and they were great. The caramel was my favorite.
I made a batch of milk crumbs and obviously put them on everything. Like an ice cream sundae with the last brownie.
And an insane yogurt bowl sundae with vanilla bean Greek yogurt, nut butter, and chocolate peanut butter granola.
Simple but great dinners this week. From the Trader Joe’s freezer section – veggie and sunflower seed bites and turkey corn dogs. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.
It was an absolutely fantastic weekend! We ate tons of good things, had a bunch of time together, and saw some gorgeous signs of spring all around the city. Highlights included… A long, gorgeous walk from Dumbo, across the bridge, around the Seaport, and up through Midtown.
Not surprised that I am into alcoholic seltzers now. My favorite so far have been from Trip and Topo Chico.
We made extra-chocolately brownies and rewatched Empire Records to celebrate Rex Manning Day 2022!
Affogato special from Caffe Panna – caramel and pistachio.
My leftover sesame noodles were even better stir-fried with extra eggs plus green beans and chili crisp.
We had lunch at Empire Diner and it was hands-down the best meal of this year so far.
I had a spicy Bloody Mary with everything bagel seasoning.
And a great cocktail with mezcal and fresh ginger.
Tuna tartar with avocado, ginger cilantro oil, white soy, frizzled shallots, and housemade chips.
I had the pastrami sandwich with melted swiss and horseradish coleslaw on marble rye. It came with the best mustard and the best herb fries I’ve ever tasted.
It was a very tasty week! Adam and I had a weekday off and a few evenings together (woo-hoo!) and we made the most of them. Some of the best highlights included…
Eating Chalk 